Locomotive ash pan



June 26, 1923.

W. M. SHEEHAN LOCOMOTIVE ASH PAN Filed Feb. 4.. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 26 1923..

W. M. SHEEHAN LOCOMOTIYVE ASH PAN Filed Feb. 4. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 26,1923.

unrran STATES -WILILLIAIVIL' M. SHEEHAN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR '10 CAST STEEL LOCOMO- 1 M f rm TIVE ASH PAN COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A'GORIEORATION 0F 'DELAVARE.

nooonrorrvn ASH rain. I i

Application filed February 4, 1921. Serial No. 442,487.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, lVILLiAM HAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement'in Locomotive Ash Pans, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in locomotive ash pans, the objects being to provide a locomotive ash pan in which the door supporting means and the door operating. mechanism are both supported on said ash pan, thereby insuring a uniform expansion of said supporting means and said door operating mechanism so that the door is maintained in proper position at all times. t

Other objects of the invention are to construct a locomotive ash pan, so that the op erating shaft of the door operatingmechanism is located within said ash pan, thereby permitting an increase in its capacity; and to provide a housing within said ash pan enclosing said shaft and having an air chamber so that air can circulate aroundsaid shaft and protect it from'the excessive heat generated in said ash pan by the ashes con-' tained therein Further ob provide the lower front end of the door opening with a depending transverse flange which, when the door ispartly openedfwill act as an air deflector and; prevent currents of air jetting into said ash pan and igniting the contents thereof. I t a With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consistsin certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which v Figure 1 is a side elevation of the ash pan. Figure 2is a front elevation of the same; Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the'line 3.3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a plan view of'the front end of the ash pan.

Figure 5 ;is a longitudinaljcross section taken through the lower portion of the ash,

pan.

ects of the invention are to Referring by numerals to the accompai nying' drawings, 10 designates a hopper attached in the usual manner to alocomotivegl fire box shown in dotted lines in Figure 1. Depending from hopper 10 and supported thereonis an ash pan 12 having side walls 13, front end wall 14 and a rear endwall 15. This rear end wall consists ,ofa

forwardly and downwardly inclined portion 15 and a more steeply inclined portion 15", The wall portion 15 is located a sufficient;

distance above the axle lfl of a locomotive, I trailer truck to provide the necessary clear- 1 ance for a booster mechanism which, when t a locomotiveis so equipped, cooperates with axle 16. The downward wall portion 15 is located the proper distance in front of'aiile 16 to provide thenecessary clearance be-" I tween said wall portion and said axleand to provide additional clearance for a swinging door 118 which, when in vopen position, 1s

swung rearwardly of said wall portion 15?, as shown n dotted lines in Figure 1. Door' 18 1S arranged'to rest against, the, lower" edges of side walls 13,'front wall 14, and} rear .end wall 15, soas to form the bottom of ash pan l2, and is swingingly supported on 1 sald ash pan by links 19 pivotally mounted in brackets 20. which are formed on side:

walls 13 and the lower ends of arms 19 are pivotally connected at 21 to depending flanges 18 of door 18.

A shaft 22 passesjtransverselythrough the interior of the ash pan 12 and has its ends which project outwardly from side walls 13-journaled in bearings 23 which are fixed to said side walls and are located infront ofbrackets 20.. Arms 2 1 are fixedto the ends of shaft 22 and pivotally connected to the free ends of said arms are the outer ends of connecting links 25,,their opposite ends being pivotallyconnected by means of bolts 1 or pins 26 to fianges18 of door-18. The rear edge of door 18 extends beyond the edge of wall portion 15* and is turned upwardly to provide a flange which when the The front end wall 1 1- has an inwardly extending flange 14, the upper Wallcf which is inclined to permit the ashes to, pass downwardlyfand the front edge of,

door 18 is designed to rest against flange 14f when said door is in closed position. Intersecting ribs 13 are diagonally disposed on the inner faces. of. side walls 13 and reinlines in Figure 1.

shaftg22 by means of arm 28, arms 24 are I brought forward, thereby causing door 18 force andprevent buckling or warping of said side walls by the heat from the ashes contained therein. I

A depending, transverse. flange 27 is formed on the front end wall 14, :This flange is located in front of the door opening of said ash pan and extends downwardly below said opening a suflicient' distance to act as an air deflector which, when the door is partly'open'ed, willprevent the air from jetting or rushing into the ash pan and causing combustion of its contents;

One end of shaft 22 is provided with a hand-operated arm28 whereby by operating "said arm in the-proper direction, shaft 22 I is rotated, moving arms 2trearwardly and causing door 18 through its connection 25 with arms 24 to swing on its pivotal supports 19 and assume the position shown in dotted By reversely. rotating to move against the lower edges of side walls 13, front end wallld and rear end wall '15, '1 and thereby closethe lower end of ash pan 12. The shaft 22 passesthrough theinterior of the ash pan andin order to'prevent distortion of, said shaft bythe heat generated insaid ash pan bythe ashes contained there I in, a tubular "housing 29 extends through said ash'pan and encloses shaft 22. The ends of housing 29 terminate and are supported in side walls 13 and are open to the atmos phere sothat air can circulate through said housing] The tubular housing 29 is of suf ficient size to provide an air chamber between said housing and shaft 22, the ends of saidhousing being open, and the air entering said housing and circulating around said shaft lowers the temperature in said housing and prevents the distortion of shaft .22 by the heat in said ash pan.

By mounting the door supporting means and the door operating mechanism on the v ashpan proper, the expansion of said supcaused by the ashes in the ash pan) is uniporting 'means and said operating mechanism (which expansion is due to the heat forinso that said door operating mechanism and door supporting means always maintain the proper working relation with'the door and with each other, thereby insuring eftective' working conditions of said door.

When either the door supporting means or the door operating mechanism is supported from any other part of the locomotive than the ash pan, the expansion of the various'parts is unequal due to the fact that parts supportedon the ash pan are subjected to greater expansion than the parts not supported on the ash, pan so that the proper working relation between said parts so sup pan and the door supporting means and the door operating mechanism being supported on the side walls thereof,the front portion of said ash pan can be extended forward as far as practicable.-

An ash pan constructed according to my design is of simple and strong construction and provides uniform expansion for its door supporting and operating parts, thereby insuring the proper closing of the ash pan at all times.

While I have shown anddescribedthe in,

vention with hand-operated means, it isobvious that the door operating mechanism can be operated mechanically.

Various changes'in the form, proportion and details of construction may be resortcd to, without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is set forthin the appended claims,

I claim: i

l. A; locomotive ash pan provided in its bottom with a discharge opening, links swingingly suspended from the side walls'of said ash pan, a door for said discharge opening pivotally supported partially by the lower ends of said links, a rock shaft extending transversely through said ash pan, a housing spaced from said shaft and enclos ing ani nsulating space around said shaft, rock arms fixed to the ends of said rock shaft, links pivotally connected at their lower ends to said door and at their upper ends to said rock arms, and a manuallyoperable arm fixed to one end of. saidrock shaft. i i

2. A locomotive ash pan provided in its bottom with a discharge opening, a door' for closing said opening, a plurality of links. arranged in pairs for supporting said door,"

one pair of said links being pivotally suspe'nded'from the side walls of said ash pan and pivotally connected at their lower ends to said door, and the other pair of linksbe ing. pivotally connected at their lowerends to said door suitable distance from thepiv otal connections of the first pair of links,

a rock shafttransversely arranged in said ash pan, a housing spaced from said shaft and enclosing an insulating air space therearound, rock arms fixed to the ends of said shaft and pivotally connected at their ends to the free ends'of the last mentioned pair of links whereby when said shaft is rocked,

said door is actuated on the axes of the pivotal connections of the first pair of links.

3. A locomotive ash pan provided in its bottom with a discharge opening, a closure member therefor, means for swingingly supporting said member in position, a rock shaft arranged within said ash pan, operating connections between said closure member and said rock shaft, and a housing in said ash pan having its ends supported by the side walls of the ash pan, said housing enclosing said shaft and forming an insulating space around said shaft.

4. A locomotive ash pan provided with a sloping bottom and having a discharge opening formed therein, a door for closing said opening, means pivotally suspended from said ash pan and pivotallysupporting said door, bearings carried by the side walls of the ash pan and spaced therefrom, a rock shaft extending transversely through said ash pan and having its ends journaled in said bearings, ahousing for said shaft arranged in and supported by said ash pan and spaced from said shaft whereby said shaft is insulated from the contents of the ash pan and air is allowed to circulate through said housing and cool said shaft, rock arms fixed to the ends of said shaft, and links pivotally connected at their ends to said arms and said door.

5. A locomotive ash pan provided with a door adapted to close the lower end thereof and supported thereon, an operable shaft journaled in said ash pan and extending through the interior thereof, means operatively connecting said shaft with said door,

and means in said ash pan enclosing said shaft and provided with an air chamber through which cooling medium may circulate around said shaft.

6. A locomotiveash pan provided with an inclined bottom'fhaving a discharge opening, a door for closing said discharge opening, an open ended tubular member supported on said ash pan and extending therethrough, a rock shaft supported by said ash pan and arranged within said tubular member, said tubular member being spaced from said shaft to provide heat insulating air space around said shaft, an arm fixed to each end of said shaft, links arranged in pairs for operatively supporting said door, one pair of links being pivotally mounted on said ash pan and the other being pivotally connected to said arms, and an operating arm fixed to one end of said shaft.

7. A locomotive ash pan provided with an open-ended tubular housing fixed in the side walls thereof and extending transversely through the interior of said ash pan, a shaft located within said housing and journaled in bearings carried by said ash pan, there being formed an air chamber between said housing and said shaft whereby air can circulate through the open ends of said housing and around said shaft, a door adapted to close the lower end of said ash pan and operatively connected to said shaft, and means for operating said shaft.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature this 1st day of February, 1921.

WILLIAM M. SHEEHAN. 

